What are you waiting for?

I truthfully don’t really have the words to start, so I’m just going to let my heart guide me. 

Less than a year ago I shared something on Instagram where I asked people to share their stories with me. With everything that’s happened over the last two years in the world, there’s been so much pain that people have gone through and so many hurdles people have had to overcome and really started to realize that heroes aren’t the people that we’ve necessarily put on pedestals, but there are people that are in our everyday lives. And that each one of us has had to become our own hero in some way, shape or form. And I put this message out on Instagram and didn’t really expect anything from it, didn’t really know what I was going to do with the stories that people were sharing with me, but I was amazed at the response. And one message in particular basically changed everything. And it was a message from a woman named Amin. And if you watch my channel for a while, you know Amin. Amin sent me a message and she shared her story with me. And it truly, for me, defined what a hero is.

Amin was diagnosed with a rare form of gynecological cancer. She went through serious treatment in order to beat cancer, and she came out on the other side of it. But through the process of her treatment and through the process of going through so much pain, and one of the scariest things I think anyone could ever go through, she turned her pain into power by writing poetry. And when she was in remission, she made it her mission to turn it into a book, to share with other people, to share that light she found in the darkness with other people. And so when I heard her story, it triggered something for me to say, you know what? I want to help her in any way that I can. And so we set up and pulled off this pretty elaborate surprise and I shared it with you last December, early December.

And one of her dreams was to meet the head of Indigo Books and Heather Reisman, so that eventually, maybe she could get her book into Indigo and she wanted to get her book out into the world. It wasn’t there yet, but that was her mission. So we pulled off a pretty cool surprise for Amin, but more that Amin and I sat down that day and we had a really candid, honest conversation about her journey. And I was changed because of that conversation and because of the strength that she showed and all of this is to say that… Sorry. The cancer, unfortunately came back last December around Boxing Day, so not long after we had actually first met and unfortunately Amin passed away. [inaudible 00:03:52].

And I didn’t want to make this to kind of live in the darkness of that reality because I know that that’s not how she lived. And I think that her legacy really is finding the light in the darkness and I needed to take time to really process it and digest it. And I also wanted to be respectful of obviously her family and what they’re going through, and I can’t even imagine. And it’s all like Amin and I know we knew each other super, super well. But we had lots of conversations and we texted and I spoke to her in May when she officially launched her book and got it out into the world, which was really quite incredible considering what she was going through. And I do believe that every single person has a legacy within them that they’re going to leave behind, and it really just puts it in perspective of, why wait?

And one thing that Amin said to me, when we sat down to speak a year ago, she said, this really sheds a light on when you get a cancer diagnosis or when you’re faced with any sort of near death experience, you’re forced to realize what’s really important to you and what really matters. And I think when we are just going about our daily lives, there’s a lot to sort of take for granted and we take time for granted. And when she shared that with me, I mean, it only further reinforced life is really short and it’s our job to figure out what we’re here to do and how we’re meant to show up in the world and to do it. To live our life in a way that is meaningful for us, and I remember that was a conversation we kind of continuously talked about is that, writing this book and being creative and having her own thing was always so important to her.

But as everybody does, we get caught up in our daily lives and sometimes our dreams and all the things we want to do to get pushed to the back burner. But she still made it happen. Faced with the hardest obstacle of her life, she still made it happen. And when I got the book in May, I was just astonished by, first of all, it’s so beautiful and it’s perfect because it’s called The Light Within My Light, and that really summarized who she was as a person and how she impacted me. That is your legacy is how you impact others. And so I wanted to just share this because that is the legacy she’s left on me and the impact she’s left on me. And my hope is that by sharing this it also kind of leaves that impact in that legacy on you as well from her. Which is, to not wait and to do what you’re meant to do and to take the chance because ultimately what’s the worst that could happen.

And so there was one poem that she wrote on page 182 of her book, and I wanted to leave you with this.

She said, “I woke up this morning, feeling grateful. Grateful that I’m awake. It’s an accomplishment. Some may call it a success. And I have to agree, I don’t think we give ourselves enough credit for simply existing. Not everyone woke up today.”

So you woke up today, that’s a win. That’s a success. Now, it’s a matter of what you do with it while you’re here. And I will take that to heart every day and always think of Amin and the impact she had on me.

So I hope that’s what this does for you too, because she was an incredible human and her legacy will continue to live on through so many people because of the light that she shared while she could.